


man, oh man, you're my best friend

by antpelts, theinsanelycooltheatrekid



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Bisexual Evan Hansen, Canon Compliant, College, Coming Out, Demisexual Evan Hansen - Freeform, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Internalized Homophobia, Love Confessions, M/M, Nonbinary Character, Post-Canon, Sharing Clothes, Sharing a Bed, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:42:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26276599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antpelts/pseuds/antpelts, https://archiveofourown.org/users/theinsanelycooltheatrekid/pseuds/theinsanelycooltheatrekid
Summary: Evan didn’t seem to have anything to say to that, expression creasing into something Jared couldn’t read. It sparked that little twinge of panic in his chest again - the suffocating feeling that he did something irreparably wrong. The silence between them was making his skin prickle and he just wanted to fill it, anything to stop the quiet. He let out a groan, rubbing his face under his glasses, "we gotta pretend to be boyfriends now, fuck."// the kleinsen fake dating fic you've been waiting for
Relationships: Evan Hansen/Jared Kleinman
Comments: 23
Kudos: 56





	man, oh man, you're my best friend

**Author's Note:**

> **moss (antpelts):** here it is... weve been plannin for a hot sec... here it is... our fake dating fic... >:) sometimes ya gotta co-write a kleinsen fic w a pal !! >:))
> 
>  **vee (theinsanelycooltheatrekid):** i get to write with one of my favourite authors with one of my favourite ships on my favourite trope? hell yeah. enjoy, folks <3

"Oh, hi Mom!" It was painted with a fake enthusiasm that he hoped was masked through the phone. Conversation was always draining, particularly when he was up to his knees in college work and genuinely relishing the time away from home. It wasn’t like he _disliked_ talking to his mom... It was just hard. Slumping back in his chair he shot a grimace to Evan who held his hands up in a mock surrender - he couldn’t get him out of this one.

Resigning to his fate Jared half turned in his chair to face his desk, watching Evan out of the corner of his eye where he was lounging on the floor of their dorm.

Their dorm.

It was still sort of odd to vocalize. Odd when Jared would get a text from Evan asking when he’d get home. Sharing a space with Evan was so comfortable yet so terribly fragile.

They'd reformed a tentative friendship after the whole 'High School Fiasco', as Evan liked to call it. Jared preferred 'Huge Shit Show' but hey, to each their own. Regardless, it sort of didn’t feel right without each other. It took a few weeks to cool down but it was like they couldn’t keep away from each other - a few awkward weeks of ignoring the elephant in the room exploded in a culmination of feelings. Also known as: Evan and Jared a mess of snot and tears as they tried to understand each other. They’d always been sort of fundamentally different. But that silent need to keep the shaky friendship that had been there for so long running deeper than surface insecurities hung over their heads. 

They both still had their issues, sure, but they were working with and against them, together.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, he's fine..." 

Evan snorted as Jared rolled his eyes, spinning around in his desk chair. The movement was natural, it kept him steady. Helped his brain focus. Which was great for conversations because talking on the phone really wasn’t his strong suit. There were vastly infinite distractions when someone wasn’t right in front of him.

"I-"

Evan mouthed something and he squinted at him, zoning out to his mother's voice. Which.. was exactly why he was trying to stay focused. The second he stopped spinning and gave Evan his attention it was just as if he wasn’t on the phone at all.

"Jared, are you listening to me?"

Great. There was something in there about how Evan had some sort of monopoly on his brain power that he didn’t want to unpack. He was a functional and not codependent person! Or whatever. His brain was just too busy and welcome to distractions. And Evan was certainly a distraction.

"Huh? Oh, what, sorry, what'd you say?" 

He flipped Evan the finger.

"No, I don't have a girlfriend," Jared had to bite back a groan as he said it, letting his head drop back against his desk chair, shoulders slumping as he rolled his eyes to himself. He could hear Evan’s poorly stifled laugh and scrunched up his nose a bit. It was even worse because he didn’t even have to look to know the expression Evan was pulling - it was always the same one when he was trying (and failing) not to laugh. Before he could think too hard about his encyclopedic knowledge of Evan’s expressions the next question from his mom caught him off guard and he sat up straighter, eyes going a little wide. "A boyfriend? Uh..."

Evan was watching him intently now, smirking. He _really_ didn’t like the way that look made him feel.

"No, I didn't say that!"

Jared swore under his breath. He wasn't getting out of this.

"I don't.. _MOM_!"

Evan snorted again, waggling his eyebrows. The combination of his mom basically _interrogating_ him with Evan looking at him like _that_ sort of had his brain feeling like mush. It was like all of his logic was out the window and he was talking before he could even process what it was that he was saying.

"It's...It's, um, Evan. Yeah. I'm dating Evan."

He avoided Evan's widened eyes and tried not to laugh at the frantic gestures he was making with his hands. 

"Yup. Evan Hansen." 

Evan's mouth made the noise equivalent of a keysmash quietly as he shook his head frantically, arms flailing. He gave a little wheeze, too nervous to make any louder audible noise - the last thing he wanted was to be roped into this call. It was easy enough to read from his expression. Honestly, if Jared were a _little_ bit more of a dick he would’ve put the call on speaker phone, but these were the things he was trying to get better at.

Also, he fully expected some weird shit to come from Evan’s mouth that they’d have to explain later. If this was going to be a _thing_ then he couldn’t have Evan throwing weird details everywhere.

"Yeah, whatever. Cool, cool, cool. Love you, too. Bye," Jared finished, all in a rush. 

He set his phone down carefully, preparing for Evan's onslaught. 

"Jared, what the actual fuck?"

Evan stood up and Jared's heart skipped a beat, believing for a half-second that he was going to leave. There was a little twinge in his chest at that because it was always _him_ who left, who walked away. Not Evan, if Evan left-

As life had it, Evan didn’t leave.

Jared didn’t have time to unpack how that made him feel because his chair was getting jostled and Evan was hooking arms around him. He made a sound Jared had never heard before as he hefted him up and moved with him. They tumbled onto Evan’s bed, Jared clutching his shirt and snorting with laughter as he tried to squirm away. 

Evan didn’t leave, he straight up _attacked_ him. Well, it was more like playful wrestling as Evan poked at his ribs, tickling every inch he could reach.

"Fuck- Sorry- It was an _accident_ get _off_ me!" Jared wheezed, fighting off Evan's relentless tickling.

Evan sat back and Jared immediately released his own grip on him. "Accident?"

"Yeah, well, she was all up in my face-" Now _Evan_ was in his face and his breathing went a little funny and it was really just a mess. 

"You were on the _phone_ -" It wasn’t like he was wrong but _still,_ Jared had a point!

"It's an _expression_ , dude, and she was just going at it non-stop and you were right there and I panicked!"

Evan didn’t seem to have anything to say to that, expression creasing into something Jared couldn’t read. It sparked that little twinge of panic in his chest again - the suffocating feeling that he did something irreparably wrong. The silence between them was making his skin prickle and he just wanted to fill it, anything to stop the quiet. He let out a groan, rubbing his face under his glasses, "we gotta pretend to be boyfriends now, fuck."

Evan plonked himself down onto the bed beside Jared. "Huh?"

"Well.. she's coming up on Saturday and taking us to dinner. We need, like, a plan or some shit."

"Dude, what?" Evan’s expression turned a little confused now. For a second Jared just blinked at him; he _had_ to be fucking with him. 

There was no way he could be missing what Jared said, but on the off chance that he really _had_ gotten lost he just laid it out in the simplest terms he could; "we have to act like boyfriends in front of my mom."

That seemed to do the trick, and Evan smashed his head into Jared's shoulder. "Fuck." 

"Mhm. 'Fuck' just about covers it. So, what do boyfriends do?"

Jared found himself being tackled to the bed a second time. Despite the fact that he was nearly pinned, the weight on top of him was more comfortable than suffocating. Which, well, he didn’t really expect _that._ He was so used to always trying to find escape routes from affection.

"Boyfriends cuddleee," Evan drawled, wrapping his arms around Jared and nuzzling into his neck. It drew Jared from his thoughts, all the contact.

“Ah- yeah so, like, method acting,” Jared choked out, trying to force out a laugh. Evan just breathed out his own short chuckle in response, if he hadn’t been pressed so close he’d probably be rolling his eyes. Instead he just pressed his nose a little closer - Jared could feel his breath. Everywhere it brushed over on his neck felt tingly; his mouth was probably _way_ too close but boundaries were always odd between them. Jared really had no metric to decide if it was normal or not. Regardless his face flushed a bit.

Evan had _always_ been clingy, ever since childhood, but Jared had pushed him away from the start. Too scared to let anyone in, emotionally or otherwise. 

But slowly, tentatively, Jared had been opening himself up, welcoming countless casual touches and trying not to blush crazily when Evan would hug him. 

Like now.

It was weird for Jared. Being touched. Being touched confirmed that he was _real,_ that Evan wasn't going to run, that he was _there._

Not to mention that it was _nice._ He’d be the last to admit it but he was disgustingly touch starved and it had taken him until _this_ started happening to realize. Because he didn’t want it to stop. He didn’t want to fuck it up.

"Jare?" 

Evan's voice brought him back to the moment, the soft vocalization of his childhood nickname bringing a deeper warmth to his cheeks that he didn't care to think about too much. 

"Shit, sorry, zoned out," Jared replied, sitting up and awkwardly settling his arm around Evan and reaching automatically for his phone. His phone was his crutch; it had saved him in countless social disasters. 

"So how are we gonna do this?"

Evan blinked at Jared with a careful watchfulness that reminded him of a cartoon owl. Specifically Owl from Winnie the Pooh. 

He shook himself. _Back to the present, Jared._

"We just.. I mean, dating isn’t that much different than being friends, right?" Not that Jared would really know. It wasn’t even something he often found himself thinking about, aside from the passing thoughts of _‘yeah, I probably, maybe, could like a guy,’_ he didn’t really care to dig too deep.

"Well, sure. I- Yeah?" Evan licked his lips - one of those little habits. It was just the movement that caught his eye. Not Evan’s lips. "Mostly. You gotta, like, be- you _should_ be friends with the person you’re, um, dating."

"We’ve got that part down then." Jared would deny it, but the end twisted up into a slight question. Not that he was digging for Evan’s reassurances. 

"Right."

"Anyway, uh. How do you feel about people knowing?"

Evan stared blankly at him and Jared swallowed, immediately replaying in his brain every single thing he'd said in the past ten minutes.

"Uh, who needs to know except your mom?" There was something that crossed over his face that Jared just couldn’t place, as frustrating as it was. It wasn’t often that Evan could trip him up like that and it made him kinda fidgety.

"Well my mom is gonna tell _your_ mom."

"Oh shit, yeah."

Taking the chance to withdraw his arm from around Evan, Jared ticked them off on his fingers for no particular reason other than to have something to do with his hands. Keeping his hands busy meant keeping his mind busy. Everything was easier when he was focused on something. "So that's my mom, your mom...Anyone else?" 

"...No?"

"Oh. Cool." That was the most coherent response he could formulate at the moment because Evan had decided to prop his chin on Jared's shoulder. 

Evan was just so _distracting_. There was something mesmerizing about his movements, at once swift and halting, carefully fluid before jerking with a suddenness that shook Jared every single time. 

"So." 

"So." Jared echoed. "Dinner."

"Are you okay with..?" Evan trailed off as he took Jared's hand in his. He lowered his gaze to their hands as he did it, loosely linking their fingers together.

"I- yeah, that's fine?" Jared's voice came out in a little squeak, voice cracking on the end as he stared pointedly at the floor. 

Evan chuckled. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing, it's just.." Jared had to physically turn his face away when Evan brushed his thumb over the back of Jared's hand. It had his heartbeat stuttering and he felt his breathing go a little funny, his voice coming out choked. "No-one's ever.."

The words tapered off, an uncharacteristic damper to them. The little moment of vulnerability had him lifting his gaze, just enough to catch Evan’s expression. There was something he couldn’t read again, brows drawn together just a little. He was frowning.

"Never mind," he mumbled. Now was _not_ the time. "Anyway!" he added, far too cheerfully.

"Anyway," Evan parroted softly, hesitantly dropping Jared’s hand.

"Dinner," Jared backtracked, getting back to his original point, trying to ignore the pang at the loss of that contact. It was just.. his hand was cold now, that’s all. "We need a story."

"Story?"

"Origin story. Lore. Y’know?" Jared was able to collect himself a little more now, that little grin slipping into place. He couldn’t help but talk with his hands too, keeping them busy.

"You’re such a dweeb." Evan’s own expression was lighting up again, eyes crinkling at the corners as he grinned, moving a hand to stifle his laughter.

"I’m not the one who dabbled in cosplay and tried to convince my mom that we should go to Comic-Con," it was light and teasing, accompanied by Jared’s eyebrows arching in amusement.

Evan flushed. "Comic-Con is rad!"

Jared snorted. " _Rad._ Okay, Evan."

Well. Comic-Con _was_ rad, especially when he went with Evan, but he wasn’t about to admit that. 

"How did we get together?" He asked quickly, resuming the original subject as fast as he could. 

"Uh- um," it came out a bit quickly and Jared couldn’t help but wonder if that had caught him off guard because the flush was still present on his cheeks, not fading.

"Hey, you’re the guy with the big ideas." Jared quipped, wincing immediately as soon as he’d said it. Luckily Evan didn’t pick up on the implications of that statement, as his expression didn’t change. 

Jared liked to think he could read Evan’s face pretty well by now.

"Okay, um, you- you asked me out?" Evan asked, voice lilting up at the end, clearly unsure. 

Jared rolled his eyes. "That works. We both know you’re far too anxious to act on your crushes yourself."

Evan winced visibly and he mentally kicked himself; before he could stumble through some clunky apology Evan was speaking again. "And we’ve been together how long?"

"Like- A month? That’s reasonable, right?"

Evan nodded. "So, um. How are we gonna…" He trailed off, gesturing vaguely with his hands. 

"How are we gonna what?"

Despite years of them knowing each other, Jared still had to wheedle things out of Evan sometimes, particularly when he was embarrassed. Evan had a habit of trailing off at the end of his sentences, flapping his arms around, as though he expected him to understand at least the gist of what he had been trying to say. Jared wasn’t exactly the best at that. 

"Uh. Y’know. How do you feel about-" He cut himself off again and Jared held back a frustrated sigh. 

"Spit it out, dude." He realized that the words came out harsher than he’d intended them to when Evan froze. "Shit. Sorry ‘bout that, Acorn. Didn’t mean it," he added, slightly softer. 

For a second there was a silence and Jared wanted to think it was just Evan’s nerves and not anything he’d said. He didn’t _think_ anything he just said was too bad - hell, it was an apology. Only Evan really got those out of him.

"About PDA. How do you feel about PDA?" Evan responded, all in a rush. "I mean, I’m probably good with most things but I don’t know how _you_ feel about it, so…"

Jared blinked. "What do you mean?"

It was Evan’s turns to roll his eyes. "Hand-holding, hugs, kisses…"

"Kisses? Huh?" Something about the word just seemed so gooey and soft and his face felt just a little warmer in response.

He hadn’t exactly thought that far ahead. 

Evan smiled a little, eyes averting, huffing out a short breath. He gently took Jared's hand again and before he could process what was happening, Evan leaned forward and planted a gentle kiss on his cheek. That, plus the gentle brush of Evan’s thumb over his hand, had him short-circuiting.

Jared involuntarily choked out a strangled noise, if he had to compare it to something he’d probably say some sort of dying animal.

"That okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, that's fine," Jared replied, resisting the urge to touch the spot on his cheek where Evan's lips had been. He bit back a frown when Evan dropped his hand again. "Just- just cheek kisses, though, right?"

"If that's what you're comfortable with, then yeah."

Jared blinked. "Well- what are _you_ comfortable with?"

Evan let out a short chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm comfortable with whatever you're comfortable with, Jared." 

Rolling his eyes Jared heaved out a little sigh. Evan always had a way of putting others above him. Well.. maybe not always. But it was an unspoken promise that they wouldn’t talk or even think about senior year. It was an outlier. 

Regardless.

"So if I asked you to, I dunno, fuck me right there on my desk, you'd do it?"

Evan screeched out an incomprehensible noise, face reddening, and Jared snorted. 

"Guess that's a no then."

"Oh, fuck off." Evan retorted, cheeks still flushed, punching Jared lightly in the arm. 

"Can't. I live here, in case you forgot. Anyway!" He resumed, sighing. "Anyway. Hand-holding, fine, hugs, you do that anyway-"

"I guess I can just be more touchy-feely? If that's okay?" There was something a little hesitant there. Or something. Jared wasn’t _great_ at reading tones all the time, evidently, but there was something that he didn’t know how to broach. So he did what he did best, instead.

" _Touchy-feely,_ " Jared mocked, nudging Evan with his elbow so that he knew he was joking. "Alright, and I'm all good with cheek kisses and.. like, all that shit. We cool?"

There was a subtle little invitation there, something open ended. Not that he was really trying to coax anything more out of Evan. It was just weird to say, and that way it was easier to let him know that if it came up, then he’d be cool with it. You never know when a situation might call for your best friend to kiss you! Or something.

At least Evan was answering before he could fall too deep into thought.

"We cool."

**Author's Note:**

> kudos n comments mean the world <3


End file.
